“Cynthia did a good job,” Scott said after a Cabinet meeting in St. Augustine. “We had record sales, which means we increased the amount of dollars to give to education.”

Story Continued Below

Scott was directly asked about bills racked up on O’Connell’s department-issued credit card.

“She made the decision to look for other opportunities, but I tell you she did a good job,” Scott said in direct response to a question about her credit card use.

Two days before O’Connell said she was stepping down, POLITICO Florida reported that she had missed more than two months of work and racked up $30,000 in travel expenses in 2014. In addition, shortly after she said she was resigning, the Lottery released records related to the credit card purchases to the Associated Press.

Those records showed that she had used a corporate card for personal expenses like grocery shopping and going to a hair salon. She eventually reimbursed those expenses, but was regularly late on the payments.

Since she announced her resignation, effective Oct. 1, the Lottery has suspended the use of corporate credit cards.